"If you’re running an online course and you’re finding it difficult to keep your students engaged in your community you’ll be glad to know that gamification may be the tool you’re looking for to help inspire students to engage."

by Victoria Zelvin. Not too long ago, I briefly touched on some video games that are already making a difference in classrooms. Included in that list was the very popular game Minecraft, which is being used as a teaching tool already. The very popular game is being extensively described as a creativity engine, or video game Legos, but what does it really offer? How does Minecraft work? How can Minecraft be utilized as a tool in the classroom, in tandem with other lessons?

In Survival mode, I smelt clay into bricks, which I then make into blocks for my house.

Minecraft thrives on exploration and creativity, but most of all it is a game that thrives on projects. When playing alone, it is best to give yourself a project — for example, building a house — or some type of goal to strive towards. The game is a creativity engine at it’s core, and utilizes several different game types in play. In Survival Mode, the player is spawned without any tools or direction. It is daytime, and nighttime is coming. Nighttime will bring monsters — such as Zombies, Creepers, Spiders, and more — that will attack, unless you have a well lit, fortified area to call your own. Many players first step in Survival mode is to build a house for themselves, to protect themselves from the elements and monsters. There is also a Hardcore setting to Survival Mode, which utilizes the “one life” policy. If a player is killed in Minecraft, then that game is over, whereas a normal death in Survival Mode would mean the player loses all their items (unless they can get back to where they died, quickly, and recover them). In Creative Mode, the player doesn’t have to worry about monsters. The player can fly, summon any crafting item to them at will, and build to their heart’s content. Some use this mode to build elaborate castles, or massively fortified villages, or even rollercoasters. The possibilities are only limited by imagination. What does all this mean for teachers and educators? Teachers and educators can go in and custom create worlds with built in goals; for example, what type of metal is best to use as a pickaxe? Why does the gold pickaxe break so easily? By building up a world for students to thrive and play in MinecraftEdu offers many resources to the skeptical or perhaps overwhelmed to help them get started. On his official website, The Minecraft Teacher, computer teacher Joel Levin chronicles his use of Minecraft in his classroom, as well as offering ideas, mods, and other support for teachers looking to use Minecraft in their classroom. In addition, Mr. Levin is the co-owner of TeacherGaming LLC, whose innovative vision was responsible for the development of MinecraftEdu. His Youtube account, the MinecraftTeachr, has a series of great introduction videos that can help teachers and educators get started. “What happens when we give students an alternate reality in which to play, experiment, create, collaborate — and yes — sometimes make a hot mess of failure?” asks Diane Main, the Assistant Director of Instructional Techology (Upper School) at the Harker School in San Jose, California. The short answer: “Thrive.” These games are things that students already have access to, and are already teaching themselves with. Whether it is basic coding, to learn how to mod (mod = “modify code”) in items that they desire but cannot build, or simply researching how to build bigger and better items, students are already utilizing these resources. Mojang, the developers, have been very open about the potential use of their game as a teaching tool, and are working with organizations like MinecraftEdu to make it a reality. Below, there is a video detailing some practical applications of creating your own worlds in Minecraft. This world, called “Foodcraft,” was created by TeacherGaming in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History. In it, students explored and learned about the growth of an international trading system, supply vs demand, and many other things. It is just one creative example of the myriad of ways that Minecraft can be used in the classroom as an innovative teaching tool.

Posts You Might Also Like

Dream of Data-Driven Instruction a Real Time Reality LearnLab The Virtue of Collaborative Inquiry

Throughout this module, games are presented as an alternative form of assessment to grading, but there are a variety of strategies to deal with grading a course that uses games. Keeping Grades and Games Separate ...

Kirsten Wilson's insight:

Resource shared during March 2014 #txeduchat for a possible help for teachers looking for ways to assess learning via traditional grading requirements.

Play is nothing if not social. Games organize play, allowing us to wrangle it and use it to experiment with the world. When we play games, more often than not, it's us under the microscope. But there's a trend in design toward video games that build social skills and encourage players to reflect on themselves and their relationships. Here are a few games that do just that.

Many instructional designers are now being asked to investigate serious games and gamification for use in their training. The problem? Few instructional designers have real game design experience or skills. Game-based solutions have great potential for learning, but only if they are designed well.

Wall Street Journal Who Needs to Know How to Code Wall Street Journal Learning to code is gaining popularity, from 10-year-olds taking private lessons to immersion coding "bootcamps" for adults trying to make a career change.

Kirsten Wilson's insight:

Programming/Code... Answers the question whether or not learning code is essential.

Kevin Corbett is an eLearning program and course developer along with online learning teacher trainer, with over 15 years experience. Passions include Mobile Learning (mlearning) and using Social media and Gamification to increase learning. Twitter @Kevin_Corbett

Kirsten Wilson's insight:

More videos and infographics regarding Gamification with Kevin Corbett.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.